


no shelter

by a_novel_idea



Series: shelter me [1]
Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Dogs, Feel-good, Fluff, There's a puppy, and a kid, but let's be honest, the puppy is more important
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-03-29
Packaged: 2018-05-29 20:21:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6391909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_novel_idea/pseuds/a_novel_idea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frank gets a dog.</p>
            </blockquote>





	no shelter

Frank never gets to go back for the Irish pitbull.

By the time he realizes he doesn't know where the dog is, he's been hospitalized, put on trial, thrown the trial, sentenced to prision, made a deal with a bad guy running the prision, murdered the man who made the bad H deal that killed his family, survived the guards when they tried to kill him back, made a second deal with the same bad guy, and escaped custody.

He knows the brief flicker of hope for the animal is foolish; even if someone would be willing to adopt a pitbull in this decade's blame-game, the fighting scars would garuntee a quick death under the needle. It makes him wish the scumbag that had chained him up had taken longer to die than the bullet to the head he probably got.

So he let's it go. There's nothing he can do about it, and he has other things to worry about. Other things like finding a new place to hole up, and replenishing his munition supplies. It's a frustrating thought to realize that the cops have very likely found his apartment, arsenal and all, and that he'll have to start over.

These are the thoughts that plague him when he rounds the corner and hears the yelping, and, under that, the sobbing. Halfway down the alley a small dog is barking and whining at an equally small person, and something in Frank's brain has to mull over that a child is sitting in an alley a few hours after dark. The second thought he has, is that he's glad he's no longer sporting prision orange.

He creeps a little closer, but keeps his distance. The puppy, because that's what it is, turns it's barking to Frank's shoes.

"Are, uh, you okay?" he mumbles.

The kid jumps and looks up at him. It's a little girl, probably no older than eight or nine, with short blonde hair and soft brown eyes; her tiny fist is clenched around the leash on the puppy's collar.

She nods frantically and pulls on the leash until she can hold the dog in her arms, despite how she squirms.

"You should go home," Frank says. "It's not safe after dark."

"I can't," she whimpers.

"How come?"

"Mama says we can't keep Champion cause she'll get too big, so we took her to the shelter, and they said they kill dogs like Champion! I won't let them!"

"So you ran away, huh?"

She nods.

"What's your name?"

"Anna."

"Well, Anna, I'm Frank. Why don't I walk you home, and we can see if we can find Champion a new home, yeah? With a good family that won't take her to the shelter."

She nods again and wipes fresh tears away with the back of her hand.

"Where do you live?" Frank asks.

Anna rattles off an address less than a block from the alley. Frank let's her lead, holding Champion's leash tight enough that her knuckles turn white. Champion is a mottled white and grey now that she's under lamplight, with bright blue eyes, and tongue long enough that Frank isn't sure it would fit in her mouth.

There's a cop car parked in front of the building Anna indicates, but no officers are around. Anna points to a buzzer on the occupancy list and Frank has to push it because she isn't tall enough to reach.

"Hello?" A watery voice asks.

"Mama, I don't have my key," Anna says, and a strangled noise comes over the speaker.

Less than a minute later the front door of the building is being thrown open by a woman with the same blonde hair. She scoops Anna up, and kisses her on the face until Anna pushes away so hard that her mother has to put her down.

"Where have you been?" her mother asks, smoothing down Anna's hair.

Anna shruggs. Her mother turns to Frank, pulling Anna impossiblely closer. He can practically see the moment she realizes who he is; his face _has_ been splashed all over the country the last month. She tenses up, enough that Champion starts to whine as she's squished between Anna and her mother's stomach.

"Mama, let go!" Anna says at the same time her mother barks, "What do you want?"

"Mama, this is Frank. He said he was gonna find Champion a new home."

The woman looks between Frank and the dog, eyes suspicious and mouth hard.

"Ma'am."

"I suppose you did bring my Anna home," she says after a moment of deliberation. "Can I get you anything?"

"No, ma'am. Thank you."

"What about Champion?" Anna asks.

Frank crouches down and holds his hands out to the puppy, who slops her tongue all over his hand.

"Would it be okay if I took care of Champion?" Frank asks her.

"You're not gonna take her to the shelter?"

"No."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Anna holds out her finger and Frank carefully wraps his pinky around hers, hiding a smile when he ducks his head. Anna then turns to her right and spits a gob of something on the sidewalk.

"Anna Kerry Pritchard!" Her mother gasps, clearly appalled by the extra step in sealing the deal.

"What?" she asks innocently. "That's how Jacobi says you make a promise!"

Her mother makes a frustrated noise.

"Her name is Champion," Anna says to him, handing over the leash, "Not Champ. You better love her."

"I will, kid. You take care of your mom, okay? No more disappearing after dark?"

"Okay," she groans.

"Tell you what," Frank says, leaning in like it's a secret, "you be on your best behavior for your mom, and you do your best in school, and I'll bring Champion back to visit in a few months."

"Deal!" Anna says, springing forward to hug his neck for briefest second before pulling away to tell her mom the good news.

Frank makes eye contact with Anna's mother and nods.

"C'mon," he says to Champion. "Time to go."

Champion sits there, tongue lolling. Frank sighs, and bends down to scoop the dog up to his chest. Champion licks over his bruises until he can bring up his other hand to stop her.

"Yeah," he says to himself. "This is gonna be fun."


End file.
